My research interests are centered around the sex steroids (estrogen and testosterone) and how these hormones influence wheel running behaviors in mice. The goals of my research are to provide a base to understand why humans are not more physically active. Physical inactivity is the second leading causes of actual death in the United States—only smoking currently causes more deaths each year. Physical inactivity is related to a new area of medical diagnoses known as hypokinetic diseases that include obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer. There will never be a magic exercise pill, but there appears to be a God-created mechanism that has been significantly affected by sin and the fall. Elucidating this mechanism and identifying how it has malfunctioned might be the key to greatly reducing the prevalence of hypokinetic diseases through altering physical activity patterns. The role of the sex steroids appears to be paramount in understanding this mechanism and provides a clear directive for my research which ultimately focuses on the molecular and cellular changes that occur following alterations to sex steroid biology.

Biography

During my undergraduate education at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI, I entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ. This experience completely altered my life. I had been a cross-country skier with intentions of becoming an Olympic athlete, but through a variety of circumstances God rectified my life to His son and pulled me from the mire of elite athletics. I went from a ski-bum never expecting to graduate to a steadfast learner. It was during a post-doctoral fellowship after completing my PhD that God again tugged on my heart and re-focused my vision to the training of Christian biologists. An unexpected offer to join the science and mathematics faculty at Truett McConnell University was the answer to God’s tug on my heart. As an Associate Professor of Physiology, I strive to impart my knowledge of physiology, cellular biology, and endocrinology on our students while allowing God to focus and sharpen each student ’s life for ministry. I am in the business of training Christians to become biologists that will someday soon storm the secular world of science with the hope of Christ.